


The Haircut

by Penny_P



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode Related
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 12:58:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20097604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penny_P/pseuds/Penny_P
Summary: Have you ever wondered why no one ever commented when Captain Janeway suddenly appeared with short hair?  Here's the missing scene from the episode "Scientific Method" - the last time the pony tail was in place.  It fits as the second-to-the-last scene, right before B'Elanna and Tom have dinner.  If you don't remember the episode, this may be a little too silly.  Even if you do, it is still a little silly.





	The Haircut

B’Elanna Torres was stuck; literally stuck, since her back muscles had locked into the crouched position she had been in for over an hour and now refused to cooperate with her efforts to stand. When she realized her predicament, she took a deep breath and counted to ten. Then she cursed and hurled a spanner across the deck of main Engineering.

It landed near the feet of Ensign Vorik, who looked at her with mild curiosity. "Is something wrong, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, something’s wrong," B’Elanna said through gritted teeth. "My back has locked up again. I need your help."

Vorik placed a hand on her lower back and applied gentle but persistent pressure. The muscles relaxed almost immediately, and B’Elanna was able to straighten up with only a dull ache remaining. "Thanks."

"I hope I am not being impertinent, but that is the third time in six hours you have required my assistance. Perhaps you should take a break."

She stretched carefully, trying to work out the kinks. "That’s a nice idea, but these systems aren’t going to repair themselves. We’ve still got a lot of work to do." Voyager had emerged from the binary pulsar with the crew alive and the aliens gone, but extensive damage to the ship. Once the doctor was able to remove the alien experiments from each crew member, they had all been working overtime on repairs.

"I am surprised that the Captain took a course of action that had the potential for so much damage to the ship." Vorik looked around. Even after nearly forty-eight straight hours of work, Main Engineering was still a mess.

"Flying through a binary pulsar was extreme, but it was the only way to get those aliens off the ship and to end their medical experiments." She shrugged. "It could be worse. By all rights, we should have been crushed."

"If so, we would not be concerned with repairing the plasma relay system with parts from the holodeck."

B’Elanna looked at him, startled. Either Vorik had just made a joke, or she was more tired than she realized.

"Janeway to Torres," the Captain called over the comm system.

"Torres here."

"Can you join me in the mess hall? I need your help to get the kitchen functioning again."

The kitchen wasn’t functioning? With replicators down and Neelix requiring more time than most to recover, that was serious. Plus, she suspected she was still out of the Captain’s good graces because of her behavior with Tom – even though they had likely been affected by some alien experiment. It didn’t seem the right time to mention that yet. "On my way." She picked up her tool kit, told Vorik to report when he finished with the plasma system, and left.

No one seemed to be in the mess hall when she arrived. "Captain?"

"Under here." The muffled reply came from behind the galley’s countertop, and Torres walked around. A pair of black-clad legs were visible on the floor, but the rest of the Captain was out of sight, under the burners used for cooking. For some reason, the sight struck Torres as funny, and she had to suppress a giggle.

"What’s the problem?" she managed to ask without laughing.

Janeway slid out from under the unit. "The plasma relays are shot, and the coolers are down. If we don’t get at least these repaired before dinnertime, all we’ll have is some miscellaneous fruit and leola puree."

Torres’ stomach flopped over at the thought of leola puree. "We’ve got what, three hours? We can do it."

She hunkered down on the floor, worming her way under the counter. For the next couple of hours, she focused on repairing the equipment and her conversation with the Captain was limited to the minimum necessary to accomplish that goal.

"I think that’s got it," B’Elanna finally announced. "Let’s give it a test." She slid out easily enough, but as soon as she was clear of the counter she realized she had a problem. Her back had locked again.

Janeway stood, facing the other way so she did not see that the Chief Engineer was still lying on the deck. Her uniform was smudged and streaked, and her hair was uncharacteristically styled in a simple ponytail without any attempt to create height or rolls. It looked much longer this way than in her usual style, reaching halfway down her back.

B’Elanna looked up and again had to fight the urge to giggle. Lying on her back like an upended turtle was ridiculous. Even more ridiculous was the fact that the only thing she could think of was that the Captain’s hair had regained all the length lost when it had been sawed off with a rock to start a fire 18 months earlier, if not a little more. Surely she should be able to think of something more appropriate to the situation.

Nope. "Your hair’s long again."

Janeway turned, looked down. "What are you doing?"

"Checking out the ceiling. My back won’t cooperate."

The Captain shook her head but knelt down to help her to a sitting position. "You should go to Sickbay."

Screaming muscles made the decision for her. "I will, as soon as we know this is working. Give me a hand up, will you?"

With one hand on her back and the other supporting an arm, Janeway helped her stand. Standing straight, though, was another matter. The best B’Elanna could manage was to lean forward from the waist at a 30-degree angle. "Kahless," she breathed as a bolt of pain shot across her shoulders.

The Captain looked concerned. "When did this start? Could it be one of the alien experiments?"

"I don’t think so," B’Elanna began. "It’s because…" She stopped. She knew exactly when she had first twisted her back; it happened when she and Tom were, uh, well, busy, on top of the control console in Upper Engineering. That did not seem like the best explanation to give to her commanding officer. "Because I’ve been working in such odd places to make repairs."

To her relief, Janeway seemed to accept that statement. "Let’s finish this and I’ll get you to the Doctor. Why don’t you just stand there for a moment."

That sounded like a very good idea. B’Elanna waited while Janeway tested the burner controls. The flames resumed at once, but they were too high. "Are you testing the intake?" B’Elanna asked.

Janeway nodded. "Yes, this should be the low setting." After a moment, the flame reduced to the proper level. "There was probably some residual plasma left in the lines," she decided, and turned back to B’Elanna. With a shake of her head, she returned to the floor. “I’ll see if I can bleed it out."

Once again, most of her disappeared under the counter. B’Elanna heard a clinking noise, and then a hissing sound. “That should do it,” the captain said. She slid out again and sat on the floor. After a moment she extended a hand. “Do you think you can help me up? I don’t want to strain your back, but my own is being difficult.”

“Of course,” B’Elanna said, and immediately stepped forward and caught Janeway’s hand. As she tried to help the captain stand, though, her back locked again and she staggered sideways. This threw both women off balance and B’Elanna fell back into a bulkhead.

Janeway tried to grab something to stop herself, but to no avail. She sat down, hard, on the floor and banged against the counter. A large pitcher on the counter overturned and drenched her with something slightly viscous, deeply pink and very sticky. The liquid landed on the crown of her head and cascaded down her hair to her shoulders and arms.

“Captain, I am so sorry,” B’Elanna gasped. She still could not stand straight. “I – I thought I could – “

Janeway sighed. “I know. I shouldn’t have asked you.” Very gingerly she touched her wet and sticky hair and then sniffed her fingers. “Any idea what this is?”

B’Elanna swallowed. "I think it’s leola and beet syrup. Neelix was saving it to make candy for Naomi Wildman."

"Leola syrup." Janeway sighed. She touched the pink, sticky mess on her hair again. Suddenly her face became decisive. She strode to the opposite side of the galley and pulled the carving knife from its cradle.

"Ah, Captain – " B’Elanna began uncertainly, trying to straighten. The headaches inflicted on Janeway by the aliens had driven her to take the ship through a binary pulsar; was she still reacting to their experiments? Was she going to attack?

Lifting the knife with an expression of determination, Janeway reached behind her head and lifted her hair. With one swift, blind stroke she hacked it off at the nape of her neck. She raised the sticky ponytail into the air like a trophy. Then she went to the waste disposal chute and tossed it in.

As she faced B’Elanna again, Janeway shook her head, almost defiantly. The newly shorn hair fell free - stickily free - in a ragged line just below her ears. "All right. We saved the food in the coolers. We can get by on emergency rations for breakfast and finish this tomorrow."

B’Elanna stared at her uncertainly. "Captain, I, uh, I…"

"What, Lieutenant?"

"I’m _really_ sorry."

Janeway looked her in the eye. "B’Elanna, I would prefer that no one knows I doused myself with leola syrup. It is not very captainly. If anyone asks, the long hair was giving me headaches. Agreed?"

"Agreed." B’Elanna was relieved that Janeway wasn’t angry with her any longer. She waited while Janeway picked up her tools and then started to giggle. She tried to stop, but she was so tired that she couldn’t control it.

Janeway looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I’m so-sorry, Captain, it’s just that – you have the worst luck with haircuts in this quadrant."

For a moment, she tried to look stern, but then she relaxed and smiled. "I know. First it’s hacked off with a rock, now leola syrup. Does it look awful?"

She nodded, then regretted it, because the Captain’s face fell. B'Elanna added quickly, "But you should go see Jenny Delaney. She loves to do hair, and she’s pretty good at it."

"I will then, after we get you to Sickbay." Taking B’Elanna’s arm, she led her toward the door. "Take a day off, Lieutenant. The repairs will go on without you. See the Doctor, fix your back, have dinner with Tom, you’ve earned it. But…this is our secret, right?"

Bent over, hobbled with pain, B’Elanna smiled. "Yes, ma’am. Our secret." 


End file.
